91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn

'Foreverly' Yours: Billie Joe Armstrong And Norah Jones Get Close

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Foreverly, a new album from Norah Jones and Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, was released today.
Marina Chavez

Think of the album Foreverly as a musical equation. You start with Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day. Then you add Norah Jones. Then, you get these two very different musicians thinking about doing duets of music from a totally unexpected source: The Everly Brothers. Finally, substitute the hits that made those iconic siblings famous with something a touch more obscure.

"I'm a big vinyl collector, so I was just flipping through the bins," Armstrong says of discovering Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, a lesser-known album of traditional tunes recorded by The Everly Brothers. "I thought it would be cool to remake the record. But I thought it would be cool to do it with a woman."

Norah Jones was game for the challenge, if a little unsure how their voices would sound together — especially, she says, attempting the close two-part harmonies that are the Everlys' trademark. Once she and Armstrong got to the studio, one rule made all the difference.

"I said, 'You have to look at me to sing close harmonies. We can't not look at each other; it doesn't work,' " Jones says. "I was just staring at his lips the whole time to make sure that we breathe at the same time and that it all is cohesive."

Jones and Armstrong spoke about the making of Foreverly with NPR's Steve Inskeep. Hear more of their conversation at the audio link.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
More Stories
  1. Candace Parker, 3-time WNBA and 2-time Olympic champion, says 'it's time' to retire
  2. At least 4 people are dead after tornadoes slam Oklahoma, Iowa and Nebraska
  3. Nearly 300 people arrested at campus protests against the war in Gaza this weekend
  4. George Brown of Kool & The Gang on party music, his memoir and the band's new album
  5. A mix-up over bioengineered tomato seeds sparked fears about spread of GMO crops